Terry Light calls himself a “professional contrarian”. Sometimes I think I may be a “professional contrarian” as well. Most of us are taught that we should have a pre-approval letter and a buyer’s agency agreement signed before we put a buyer in our car. I have always thought that if someone tried to make me sign a buyer’s agency – promising that I would only do business with them – before I had a chance to get to know them or to ascertain how competent they were, I would not sign it and would walk away. Our team feels that it is important to build the relationship first and that signing a buyer’s agency agreement will be a natural outcome of the relationship!

If a potential home buyer calls us to show a home or help the buyer find a home, we meet the future client and show them property without necessarily having either a buyer’s agency or pre-approval. Shortly into the meeting or showing, we will certainly put them in touch with a lender to get a preliminary idea of the buyer’s ability to purchase and at what level. We begin to demonstrate our competency by helping them get pre-qualified for a loan with a mortgage professional. Next we further demonstrate our skills by assessing the needs and wants of the buyer and by finding properties that fit the criteria and price range they are qualified for.

Our experience is that as we build this relationship there will be a natural juncture to say, “At this point I assume you want me to represent you in this transaction.” Typically the answer is yes and when we outline the important parts of the buyer agency agreement, the client usually is very much onboard!

With this strategy we do not feel like we have to coerce the client into signing a buyer brokerage.

Ok so I know this goes against what everyone is taught, but it works well for us. I know other very successful agents who feel the same but don’t usually promote it as it seems to be politically incorrect.

A common theme for me seems to be that relationships trump almost everything else!